Illusion
by SnapdragonSmile
Summary: AU. In 1942, Edward and Bella, both human, were already happily married, with a young daughter. Then she got the telegram everyone dreaded, the one from the National War Office. But who is Dr. Cullen, and is Edward really as dead she thought he was?
1. The Letter

Dear Mrs. Masen,

This is no official Army letter, and I'm sure you already have the telegram from the war office. Consider this a letter between friends, with information I thought your husband would want you to know.

Bella (I hope it's all right if I call you Bella. Your husband said that was what you preferred to called), I got to know Edward very well during his stay at the camp, or at least better than I did the others. He had a certain maturity, a quiet sadness that the other soldiers didn't. The first time he was in the hospital for a minor injury, I had a chance to talk to him. He told me a little about you, about Maggie. I admit, I was surprised. He seemed more anxious about the two of you than himself, despite how much less danger you were in. It was clear how much love he had for both of you. I'm sorry if any of this is hard for you to hear, but I thought you would want to know everything.

It was unusual that that a man (or perhaps boy, really) of his age to have a wife and baby daughter, and confirmed what I had thought about his being different from the others. I dismissed him from the hospital a short while later, with a cast on his arm and no other serious injury. I saw him around the camp a few times more and we exchanged words, but I didn't see him again until the end.

Foolish as it is to do so during a war, with death all around you, I'd grown an attachment to Edward, more so than the other soldiers, perhaps because of the devotion I saw that he had for you and your daughter Maggie. I sincerely wanted him to be able to go home to you and Maggie when the war ended.

Then he was admitted to the hospital again, a bomb had gone off next to him. He was severely injured, bleeding badly. It was clear he would not survive. He was unconscious, his face badly bruised. I can least tell you he went through no serious pain, and I hope it's some condolence. He awoke just once and his words were all of you and Maggie. He made me promise to write to you, and I'm fulfilling that promise now and told me to tell you to try to move on, not to dwell over him. He was vehement about this. He also said to say that he loved you both more than anything. He passed out a moment later and died early in the morning. I can say I'm immensely sorry. I know he loved you very much, and I will never forget either of you.

With my sympathies,

Doctor Carlisle Cullen

I read over the letter again. I felt bad about lying to the woman, causing her undue agony, even though most of what I said was true, with the exception of the painlessness. I'd shown him the letter and he'd responded with a nod. I wished there was a way he could return to her, but he was far too young. He loved them both too much to take that risk. He locked himself away most of the time, his still burning red eyes mournful. He was taking it hard, but I couldn't blame him. I folded the letter, sealed it, and sent it on it's destination.


	2. I have to stop

Chapter One

August 3rd, 1948

Photographs. I had to stop looking at photographs. My school picture junior year, with a stupid young smile on my face. His school picture junior year, eyes glittering. I almost smiled. The person taking the picture had probably been too dazzled to pay proper attention. He and I at graduation, both of us so excited to get into another world. The picture at our wedding, my veil blowing out behind me. Even in my wedding dress I'd thought I looked plain beside him. If you looked closely enough behind us you could see Charlie looking panicked. I almost laughed. Another picture nearly a year later, his hand on my swollen stomach, my head buried into his shoulder. My eyes closed. My mind a million miles away from the picture. At a certain point after he left I stopped taking photographs. I spent all my time waiting. Letters. I had to stop reading letters. The letter he'd written me the first time, careful not to reveal any information about where he was, just in case. Saying that he missed me. The letters that followed. The frustrated ones, saying how much he hated the war and wished he could leave. The short, sad ones, when a friend had died. I hadn't saved the telegram. I had saved the letter from the kind doctor, the one describing his last day. Sometimes I cried reading it. Sometimes I was angry. He wanted me to forget him? Sometimes the words didn't even sink in. Memories. If I couldn't forget, I had to stop remembering.

I heard a knock on the door. I shut the photograph box, pushed myself out of chair, and went to answer it. There was Jacob Black, leaning against my porch rail with his usual grin.

"Jacob!" I wasn't feigning my enthusiasm. I really was that happy to see him. More happy than I usually could ever be.

"Bella!" He grinned again, "Hey, Maggie! I've got something for you!"

"What? What?" I heard her voice ringing out from the other room as she raced in.

"Which hand?" Jacob kept both hands firmly behind his back.

"This one." Maggie tapped his right hand. I saw Jacob quickly switch a lollipop from his left hand to his right, the one Maggie had chosen.

"Say, you got it right." Jacob pulled out the candy and Maggie's green eyes brightened.

"Mommy, can I have it now?" The green eyes widened, begging.

"Yes," I agreed, tuning out Maggie's loud, joyful shrieks as she ran up to her room.

"You should stop giving my daughter junk food, Jacob Black." I reproved.

"I should stop. But I'm not going to." Jacob replied, sitting himself at the table.

"I have to scrape her off the walls after you come over." I quipped.

"Glad to hear it." Jacob smirked.

"You're good to us, Jake." I sat down myself. He shrugged. I wasn't lying. He was one of the few that had treated me like a human being. Perhaps in a larger town than Forks, I wouldn't have been an oddity. But nearly every man in Forks had come home. Ben Cheney had come back to Angela Weber and they'd been married last year. Mike Newton had survived, even if his relationship with Jessica Stanley hadn't. It hadn't seemed fair, right. Edward had been one of the strongest, best able to stand anything. It seemed. It was wrong that he'd been the one to die. He was supposed to be invincible. Die. It hurt to say or even think the word. I'd never forgotten the day I'd gotten the telegram, the feeling that the whole world had closed in that day and squished me.

"What're you thinking about, Bella?" Jacob asked.

"Nothing." I replied. Nothing, nothing.

Maggie raced back into the room. I smiled. I was grateful to have her, even if it was excruciating to look at her sometimes. He and I had gotten married so young, almost directly out of school and I had never expected to find out I was pregnant six months after the wedding. That had been a pleasant shock, though. The draft had been a horrible one. I could still see his face, sad yet determined, as he kissed me goodbye and held Maggie for a last time in what we knew would be at least a long time, if not forever. The months after had been hell, waiting day after day for the letters or any news at all. And then hell had come to earth. The year after had been the worst of my life. My father had tried to convince me to move out of the house at least, preferably out of Forks, but I'd refused. It was our house. I'd intended to stay there, raise my daughter there. And I was going to do it. There were too many memories, even painful ones, to leave. Memories. I had to stop remembering. But I never could.


	3. Author's Note

I am not normally the type to do Author's Notes as chapters, but people seem to be confused. For this, I apologize. I'm not really the type of writer who comes out and says things directly and this can work for or against me. So I am putting a full summary here.

SUMMARY: Edward and Bella lived in Forks. They were both human. They got married after high school and had a daughter. World War Two hit and Edward got drafted. They missed each other a lot and were waiting for the war to end so he could go home. Carlisle was the army camp doctor, and he got to know Edward a little. They talked and generally liked each other. Then Edward was out and a bomb went off near him. He was seriously injured and was going to die. Carlisle changed him. Five years later and we will find out where he is soon. Bella is still in Forks in a situation similar to New Moon. She's trying to move ahead, Jacob is a good friend to her, and she's glad to have her daughter, but she's depressed and really misses Edward. We will find out more about why this is going on soon.

Hope I cleared things up. Update coming soon.

Much love to all reviewers,

Miranda


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